Today, Nuance has closed the previously announced acquisition for the 50% stake of the Nuance-Watson joint ventures, which operate an expanding travel retail business in Asia. Following the acquisition, Nuance now owns 100% of the company.

With regional headquarters in Hong Kong, Nuance operates retail stores in seven locations in Asia: Hong Kong International Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, China Zhuhai Airport, KLIA 2 in Malaysia, Bangalore and Mumbai in India and The Venetian Macao, with new stores opening in Xiamen, China later this year.

As reported, Dufry signed an agreement to acquire 100% of The Nuance Group for CHF 1.55bn ($1.73bn) back in June – creating what will easily be the biggest duty free and travel retailer in the world with combined annual sales (based on last year’s separate turnovers) of about $6.3bn (CHF 5,672m).